Two students drown

A college student drowned while bathing in the Bay of Bengal near the Sugandha Beach Point in Cox's Bazar yesterday.

The deceased was identified as Sahed Hossain Bappi, 20, a student of Ramu Government Degree College in the district.

Police said six friends, including Bappi, went to the beach city from Techipul area of Ramu upazila. Around 11:00pm yesterday, they went to the sea to bathe. They took floating tubes with them.

At one stage, Bappi and one of the youths named Musa fell off their floating tubes and started floating away into the sea, said Mohammad Mohiuddin Ahmed, additional superintendent of Cox's Bazar Tourist Police.

As an on-duty lifeguard was informed of the matter immediately, he managed to rescue Musa. But Bappi could not be found.

As the lifeguards continued the frantic search, Bappi was found, floating, around 40 minutes later. He was rescued and rushed to Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital, said Osman Ghani, in-charge of the lifeguard operations on the beach.

The hospital's Resident Medical Officer Ashiqur Rahman said Bappi was brought dead.

In a separate incident, in Barguna, police yesterday morning recovered the body of a seventh-grader, who drowned on Thursday while bathing near a confluence in Patharghata upazila.

The victim was identified as Surya Ghosh, 13, a student of Sristee Science School and College and a resident of College Road area in Barguna town.

His family members said the school authorities arranged an annual picnic with 75 students on Thursday in Laldia area near which two rivers -- Baleshwar and Bishkhali -- meet.

Around noon, the students were taking a bath there. Suddenly, the children saw that Surya was going down under the water. They instantly informed it to their teachers. But they failed to rescue Surya.

Later, they informed the police who rushed to the spot and conducted rescue operations till dusk with the help of fire service members. But they could not trace the boy anywhere.

Yesterday morning, some fishermen found the body floating in the Bishkhali river near Laldia area.

[Our Correspondents in Cox's Bazar and Patuakhali contributed to the report]